After having my 37ft Elandan parked for a number of years and trying to fix all the little things one at a time Iíve decided that Iím fighting an uphill battle. At this point I figure itís better to just bite the bullet and do a complete frame-off renovation.

Original restoration purists turn away now! This is not an original restoration Ė I intend to modernize, customize, and do whatever hits my fancy along the way.

This is what I started with: A 37ft 1989 Winnebago Elandan which was imported to Britain in 1991 and then spent a majority of its life as a rental unit the previous owner bought it and brought it to Sweden. He had it for a year without ever registering it here but was planning on using it as an advertising platform for his business of importing American cars. I bought it when I took an assignment in Gothenburg and couldnít find a commuter apartment on short notice. I used it as an apartment for a year and then brought it home where it sat for a number of years before I decided to renovate it.

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The house on the Elandan is built in aluminum sections and bolted to the frame. I need to remove all of the fiberglass panels on the side, front and cockpit roof. After that it should come undone. I'll post pics along the way

I started dismantling it for repair a while ago, but actually made the decision to do the frame-off recently. If I was still living in the U.S. I would probably look for a better unit to tackle, but large RVs are not that common over here. Plus I really like the shape of the Elandan.

The lovely engine bay. Gas is $6.50/gal here, but right now I plan on keeping the thirsty but great sounding 454. There is an exhaust leak at one of the manifolds, and the air injection system has been partially disconnected a long time ago. I will be looking for ways to improve gas mileage, perhaps with a more modern overdrive transmission and engine mods.

This morning I managed to get the last of the interior out, along with all of the 110V wiring, the heater and the water heater. It's fairly easy to get the interior out once you figure out how they put it in. The biggest problem is all the screws that are rusted in place.

Now that the interior is stripped bare, you can see the extent of the water damage along the walls and where it has been leaking.

The engineering drawing for how the house is put together came via email this afternoon. Thanks Angie at Winnebago for sending them to me!

Armed with this new information on how things go together - or come apart, the rear cap was the first get removed. I spent a better part of the afternoon scraping layers and layers of sealant (no wonder it leaked) and removed the rear cap.

Tim, that's an interesting rear cap. The engineer in me wants to know if you have seen any fuel economy improvements. Have you string tested it (pinned strings to the side) to see how the air flow is improved?

I am length limited. The Elandan already has a huge overhang and lengthwise doesn't fit in many camp grounds. I also tow a car on a trailer behind. I have considered redoing the rear cap style-wise, though.